Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
Deep Tide Introduction: On March 6, Vitalik published a lengthy article directly pointing out that the Ethereum community has long been trapped in a "path dependency" mindset: always making incremental improvements based on the existing ecosystem, rather than reimagining the possibilities of the application layer from first principles. He called on Ethereum enthusiasts to "take off their suits and ties" and re-examine DeFi, decentralized social networks, identity authentication, and even the intersection of AI and privacy with a bolder and more open mindset.
Full text as follows:
I believe that we in the Ethereum world should maintain a bolder and more open mindset about many things—especially in the application layer and in how we view our position in the world.
Core attributes are non-negotiable: Censorship Resistance, Open Source, Privacy, Security (CROPS). We should not distort "open-mindedness" into a state where people have no certainty about which security attributes the L1 will retain a year from now. We should not ask questions like, "Do we really need light clients to trustlessly verify the correctness of the chain?" But especially at the application layer and at the interface between Ethereum and the external world, we should be more willing to fundamentally rethink various concepts and step out of our comfort zones.
This includes technical direction questions, such as: "What if the development of AI basically means that browser extensions and mobile wallets will become obsolete within a year?"
An example from last year is the shift in mindset—treating privacy as a top priority on par with other security attributes. This implies a completely different Ethereum application stack, as the entire tech stack so far has not been built around privacy. Well, then let's build a completely different Ethereum application stack!
An example this year is the increasing work on network layer privacy, both inside and outside the Ethereum Foundation.
This also includes application layer questions, such as: "What if the rest of DeFi is essentially just a general futures market built on top of high-quality decentralized oracles, allowing users to self-organize on that basis?" and "What if the ideal decentralized oracle is just an M-of-N small LLM SNARK verification of zk-TLS data from several major news websites?"
(By the way, this is interconnected with the AI topic: one consequence of AI is that it pushes "applications" from discrete categories of behavior with discrete UIs into a continuous space. Therefore, the pattern of "building fewer applications and relying on users to self-organize on them" will inevitably expand as a paradigm.)
Another example this year is rethinking the role of L2s from scratch—what kind of L2 truly creates the greatest synergy and enhancement with Ethereum.
This also involves the cultural level. This is an important reason why I, @AyaMiyagotchi, and others are deeply associated with "this milady thing." Yes, it's a silly, cute meme. Yes, I find some milady supporters' political views embarrassing, sometimes even blatant bootlicking (of course, there are other milady supporters who are the exact opposite). But the core underlying meaning, the "message behind the message" is: take off the suit and tie. If you're wearing a suit and tie, be willing to grab the nearest glass and pour it on your suit tie, leaving yourself no choice but to tear it off and regain the full flexibility and freedom of your body. The next time you're invited to one of those formal dinners full of rich people, really imagine yourself doing this. Write the preconception "I am a respectable person" on a piece of paper, crumple it up, and burn it. This psychological baptism will lead to an intellectual baptism—unlocking greater creativity and expanding the boundaries of possibility.
For too long, our algorithm in Ethereum has been: we have this existing ecosystem, what is the next logical step to make it a little bit better? Now, our algorithm should be: we have this excellent L1 that will become even more excellent, we have an increasingly rich set of tools—both built within our ecosystem and from outside—so, with everything we have today, what is the most valuable thing?
If you were to write the chapter on applications in the 2014 Ethereum whitepaper, thinking from first principles about what truly makes sense in DeFi, decentralized social networks, identity authentication, and other areas, what would you write? At least take this step: zero out all path dependency concerns, pretend that Ethereum chain usage is zero today, you are the first person proposing or building an application, and see what emerges. Even if you are the one building today's existing applications, please do this.
This is how Ethereum becomes powerful again.
Popular Comments:
@dcposch:
Zeroing out path dependency for "wallets" and such—100% agree. Usage is approximately zero anyway, and many entrenched product decisions are completely wrong.
Zeroing out path dependency for off-chain finance—100% disagree.
The "monetary signal" that can truly bring liberating value to 100 million users necessarily involves smooth integration with fiat channels and issuer assets, that's undeniable. It doesn't have to stop there, nor be locked into these things. It can be open source, substantially better in privacy, accessibility, and censorship resistance. But it must respect this specific path dependency—otherwise, we're just stuck on a geek island amusing ourselves.
@vitalikburterin:
Yes, I completely agree, it's entirely reasonable for payment apps/wallets/Agent-like products aimed at mainstream users to integrate with traditional finance, allowing users to deposit and withdraw.
The path dependency I hope we get rid of is mainly the path dependency on the Ethereum application/wallet ecosystem's own history.
A random example: if you're just making a payment app, you could explore not exposing 0x addresses at all (maybe use one-time addresses only for deposits, and of course also allow withdrawals to other people's addresses), with all payments done inside Railgun or Aztec.
